Shareholders of ExxonMobil voted today on a resolution introduced by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli asking the company to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Preliminary results show that the vote at the company’s annual meeting in Dallas, Texas, garnered 20.6 percent in favor of the resolution, representing 565 million shares worth approximately $45.2 billion.

“It is shameful that ExxonMobil forces its shareholders to push it to be an equitable employer,” DiNapoli said. “ExxonMobil is clearly acting in a discriminatory way when it offers different benefits to its employees based only on the company’s interpretation of legal marriage. It should do the right thing and implement a clear policy prohibiting discrimination. From the shareholders’ standpoint, there’s risk to the value of our investment until it does. I remain firmly committed to advocating for this resolution until ExxonMobil provides equality for all of its employees.”

In 2011, the shareholder proposal received 19.9 percent of the vote. The Fund holds approximately 16.2 million shares of ExxonMobil with an estimated market value of $1.3 billion. ExxonMobil's refusal to substantially implement a written equal employment opportunity policy allows the company to continue to deny domestic partner benefits to its employees in the United States and is in conflict with anti-discrimination and marriage equality statutes in New York State.

As trustee of the estimated $150.3 billion New York Common Retirement Fund, DiNapoli has urged companies in which the Fund invests to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Over the past three years, Comptroller DiNapoli has reached agreements with 27 companies to change their policies.